System and method for providing a group account

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods include a group fund processor having a communications interface that receives account data associated with a primary account from a device over a network, creates a group fund account, and associate one or more limits with the group fund account, an alert interface that transmits an electronic invitation including a description of a first amount to an invited user and receives a response from the invited user to the at least one invitation, wherein the response includes account data associated with a respective group member account of the invited user; and an account processor that links the group fund account to the primary account, and links respective group member account of the invited user to the group fund account so that the first amount is transferred from the respective group member account of the invited user to the group fund account.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/157,816, filed Jan.25, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/828,998, filed Mar. 25, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,902,401, which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/167,807, filedOct. 23, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,607,206, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/824,558, filed Aug. 12, 2015, nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,108,950, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/036,313, filed on Aug. 12, 2014, the entirecontents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

The present application contains subject matter related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/031,263 entitled “System and Method forDetermining Social Statements,” U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/914,719 entitled “System and Method for Financial Transfers from aFinancial Account Using Social Media,” and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/737,399 entitled “System and Method for Synching aFinancial Account with a Social Network Account,” the contents of whichare incorporated by reference in their entirety.

This application contains subject matter related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/827,608 entitled “System and Method For DigitalAuthentication,” filed on Aug. 17, 2015 and U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/827,671, entitled “System and Method For Digital Authentication,”filed on Aug. 17, 2015, both of which claim priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/037,710, filed on Aug. 15, 2014, the entirecontents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for integrating asocial network application programming interface to provide a group fundaccount to pay for purchases that satisfy certain parameters.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Friends and family members often organize events, outings, vacations,and other activities as a group. These activities are often paid for byone member of the group, and then that group member has to collect fundsfrom the rest of the group for their allocated portion of the expensesincurred. As the size of these groups grow, the ability to accuratelytrack and allocate expenses becomes increasingly difficult. Collecting,summarizing, communicating and collecting payment for expenses is anawkward and time consuming practice.

These and other drawbacks exist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure, together with furtherobjects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in the several Figures of which like reference numeralsidentify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a system for providing a groupfund account to a group of users, according to an example embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of a system for providing a groupfund account to a group of users, according to an example embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of a system for providing a groupfund account to a group of users, according to an example embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts a schematic diagram of a method for creating a group fundaccount and associating it with a group of users, according to anexample embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 5 depicts a schematic diagram of a method for funding a group fundaccount, according to an example embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following description is intended to convey a thorough understandingof the embodiments described by providing a number of specific exampleembodiments and details involving systems and methods for a group cardfund to pay for purchases that satisfy certain parameters. A financialinstitution may permit account holders (“Executors”) to create a shortterm deposit account (“Group Card Fund”), link it to or otherwiseassociate it with to their financial account, invite specific friends toadd money to the Group Card Fund, and withdraw money from the Group CardFund to pay for card charges that satisfy specific purchase parameters(i.e. purchases occurring in a specific geographic location and/orduring a specified period of time). The purpose of this Group Card Fundis to allow groups of people to contribute funds towards upcoming sharedtransactions (i.e. a group trip, a bachelor/bachelorette party, a nightout, a family reunion).

The Executor will pay for expenses for the group via his/her financialaccount (that was previously linked to the Group Card Fund) and will bereimbursed for those expenses from the Group Card Fund. Once the fundsin the Group Card Fund are depleted, or reach a certain level (i.e.below $100), the system would notify the Executor and other individualsassociated with the group spending activity, and include the option ofsending a request to the members of the group for more money. When themembers of the group receive the request message, the message may beconfigured to allow them to approve the funding request for the amountthe Executor has asked for, or deny the request. Upon request approval,the financial institution would withdraw the approved funds from thegroup members' accounts and deposit those funds into the Group CardFund.

Group Card Fund management, group invitations, money transfer approvalsfrom group member to Executor, and additional fund requests by Executorcould all be accomplished via widely adopted social media platformsleveraged by consumers and businesses including, but not limited to,Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc., or via a domain owned andoperated by the financial institution.

FIG. 1 depicts an example embodiment of a system for providing a groupcard fund to pay for purchases that satisfy certain parameters accordingto various embodiments of the disclosure. The system may include variousnetwork-enabled computer systems, including, as depicted in FIG. 1 forexample, a financial institution 101, comprising a group fund processor104, an account system 105, and an alert interface 106; a socialnetworking site 107, a social linking application programming interface(API) 110, one or more devices, including Executor device 102 and Groupmember device 109, financial institution 112, and network 108, which maybe included as separate processors or combined into a single processoror device having the multiple processors. As used herein, the term“module” may be understood to refer to computer executable software,firmware, hardware, or various combinations thereof. It is noted thatthe modules are examples. The modules may be combined, integrated,separated, or duplicated to support various applications. Also, afunction described herein as being performed at a particular module maybe performed at one or more other modules and by one or more otherdevices instead of or in addition to the function performed at theparticular module. Further, the modules may be implemented acrossmultiple devices or other components local or remote to one another.Additionally, the modules may be moved from one device and added toanother device, or may be included in both devices.

In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the components of financialinstitution 101 (e.g., group fund processor 104, account system 105 andalert interface 106) may be integrated into financial institution 101.The components of financial institution 101 (e.g., group fund processor104, account system 105 and alert interface 106) also may be separatefrom financial institution 101. In various embodiments the components offinancial institution 101 (e.g., group fund processor 104, accountsystem 105 and alert interface 106) may be integrated, in whole or inpart, into social networking site 107 and/or financial institution 112.Financial institutions 101 and 112, the components 104-106, and/orsocial networking site 107 may comprise one or more network-enabledcomputers. As referred to herein, a network-enabled computer systemand/or device may include, but is not limited to: e.g., any computerdevice, or communications device including, e.g., a server, a networkappliance, a personal computer (PC), a workstation, a mobile device, aphone, a handheld PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a thin client,a fat client, an Internet browser, or other device. The network-enabledcomputer systems may execute one or more software applications to, forexample, receive data as input from an entity accessing thenetwork-enabled computer system, process received data, transmit dataover a network, and receive data over a network.

The components depicted in FIG. 1 may store information in variouselectronic storage media. Electronic information, files, and documentsmay be stored in various ways, including, for example, a flat file,indexed file, hierarchical database, relational database, such as adatabase created and maintained with software from, for example, Oracle®Corporation, Microsoft® Excel file, Microsoft® Access file, or any otherstorage mechanism.

The components depicted in FIG. 1 may be coupled via one or morenetworks, such as, for example, network 108. Network 108 may be one ormore of a wireless network, a wired network or any combination ofwireless network and wired network. For example, network 108 may includeone or more of a fiber optics network, a passive optical network, acable network, an Internet network, a satellite network, a wireless LAN,a Global System for Mobile Communication (“GSM”), a PersonalCommunication Service (“PCS”), a Personal Area Network (“PAN”), D-AMPS,Wi-Fi, Fixed Wireless Data, IEEE 802.11b, 802.15.1, 802.11n and 802.11gor any other wired or wireless network for transmitting and receiving adata signal.

In addition, network 108 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (“WAN”), alocal area network (“LAN”), or a global network such as the Internet.Also network 108 may support an Internet network, a wirelesscommunication network, a cellular network, or the like, or anycombination thereof. Network 108 may further include one network, or anynumber of the example types of networks mentioned above, operating as astand-alone network or in cooperation with each other. Network 108 mayutilize one or more protocols of one or more network elements to whichthey are communicatively coupled. Network 108 may translate to or fromother protocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Althoughnetwork 108 is depicted as a single network, it should be appreciatedthat according to one or more embodiments, network 108 may comprise aplurality of interconnected networks, such as, for example, theInternet, a service provider's network, a cable television network,corporate networks, and home networks.

In various example embodiments, an account holder may be any individualor entity that desires to conduct a financial transaction using one ormore accounts held at one or more financial institutions, such asfinancial institution 101. The users of Executor device 102 and groupmember device 109 may be account holders at financial institution 101,financial institution 112, and/or another third party financialinstitution. Also, an account holder may be a computer system associatedwith or operated by such an individual or entity. An account may includeany place, location, object, entity, or other mechanism for holdingmoney or performing transactions in any form, including, withoutlimitation, electronic form. An account may be, for example, a creditcard account, a prepaid card account, stored value card account, debitcard account, check card account, payroll card account, gift cardaccount, prepaid credit card account, charge card account, checkingaccount, rewards account, line of credit account, credit account, mobiledevice account, or mobile commerce account. A financial institution maybe, for example, a bank, other type of financial institution, includinga credit card provider, for example, or any other entity that offersaccounts to customers. An account may or may not have an associatedcard, such as, for example, a credit card for a credit account or adebit card for a debit account. The account card may be associated oraffiliated with one or more social networking sites, such as aco-branded credit card.

As used herein, social networking site 107 may comprise a website and/orassociated native mobile application that allows a user to create asocial media account and provide user-specific information, includinginterests, and network with other users based on social connections.Examples of social networking sites may include, without limitation,Facebook, MySpace, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Yelp,Foursquare, or the like. Social networking site 107 may maintain useraccounts holding social media data for an account holder, such as, forexample, user name, user phone number, user address, user email address,user occupation, and/or user location information.

As used herein, the term “Executor” refers to an individual or entitythat creates and manages a group fund account, as will be describedherein. The term “Group member” refers to an individual or entity whohas agreed to link his financial account to the group fund account inorder to contribute funds to the group fund account. In variousembodiments, device 102 and device 109 may be the same or similardevices, but the role of the individual or entity that operates saiddevice. The role of device 102 and device 109 automatically may bedetermined based on whether the user is the Executor or a group member.In various embodiments, all members other than the Executor may beidentified as group members. Also, the Executor may be a group memberwith administrative privileges to administer the group fund account.Devices 102 and 109 may be any computer device, or communications deviceincluding, e.g., a server, a network appliance, a personal computer(PC), a workstation, a mobile device, a phone, a handheld PC, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a thin client, a tablet computer, a smartphone,a fat client, an Internet browser, or other device. Non-limitingexamples of a smartphone include an iPhone or an Android-enabled phone.Devices 102 and 109 also may be tablet computers. Non-limiting examplesof a tablet computer include an iPad, Kindle Fire, Playbook, Touchpad,and the like.

The user of Executor device 102 may sign up to be the Executor for a newgroup card fund. The user may access this service using, for example,group fund app 103, which may be, for example, a native mobile bankingapplication, on device 102. The features and functionality of group fundapp 103 may be integrated into mobile banking application provided byfinancial institution 101. Group fund app 103 may be a stand-aloneapplication capable of executing on device 102. In various embodiments,group fund app 103 may be provided by social networking site 107. Groupfund processor 104 may enable a user to create a new group fund accountusing, for example, various interfaces associated with group fund app103. FIG. 3 shows an example embodiment of the relationships between thevarious accounts in the present disclosure. Group fund processor 104 mayenable a user to create group fund account 320 and associate it with theuser of device 102 using, for example, various interfaces of group fundapp 103. The executor may create a username and password associated withgroup fund account 320. The group fund account may act as a short termdeposit account. Group fund processor 104 may transmit a request todevice 102 to provide account information for an executor account. Theexecutor account may be a pre-existing financial account held by theexecutor (the user of user device 102). The executor account may be achecking account. The executor account may be a credit card account. Theexecutor account may be a savings account. The executor account may bewith financial institution 101 or some other third party financialinstitution. The executor may use device 102 to provide the accountname, account number, routing number, username, password, and otherinformation associated with the executor account.

Account system 105 may link or otherwise associate the group fundaccount to the executor account using the account information. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 3 , group fund account 320 is linked toexecutor account 310. In various embodiments, the executor may linkmultiple executor accounts to the group fund account (e.g., theexecutor's credit card account and checking account may both be linkedto the group fund account). Once the accounts are linked, group fundaccount 320 may enable the provision of funds to executor account 310,based on certain parameters. Group fund processor 104 may transmit arequest for group fund account limits to executor device 102. Theexecutor may select one or more group fund account limits using device102 and transmit the selections to group fund processor 104, whichassociates the group fund account limits with the group fund account.Group fund account limits may include, for example and withoutlimitation, transaction type, merchant identifiers, spend limit,transaction location restriction, transaction date and time limitsand/or the like.

Transaction type limits allow the executor to set limits on the type oftransaction that will be funded by the group fund account. For example,the executor may select “in-person transactions only” or “onlinetransactions only”. Merchant identifier limits allow the executor todesignate certain merchants where the group fund account funds may beused to conduct transactions. The executor may supply the merchant'sname and/or a merchant identifier, or select one or more merchants froma list provided by group fund processor 104. The executor may selectspecific merchants where the group fund account funds may not be used toconduct transactions. Spend limits allow the executor to set limits onthe amount of funds from the group fund account that may be used to funda given transaction. The spend limit may limit the amount of funds thatmay be used from the group fund account in a given day, week, month,etc. The transaction location limits may allow the executor to specifyone or more locations where transactions may be conducted that can thenbe funded by the group fund account. The transaction location may bespecified as a zip code, area code, city, state, latitude and longitudecoordinate range, or other geographic location information. Transactiondate and time limits allow the executor to specify a range of dates (orspecific dates) associated with the group fund account. Onlytransactions that were conducted within that range of dates or on thespecific dates can be funded using the group fund account. The executormay also set an expiration date for the group fund account. Once theexpiration date passes, the group fund account may be closed by groupfund processor 104, as will be described later on. The group fundaccount may have a recurring time limit (e.g., at the end of each month,group fund processor 104 may transmit a query to executor device 102asking the executor whether to keep the group fund account open for thenext month or close it).

After group fund processor 104 has created the group fund account,received the various limits from the executor device 102, and accountsystem 105 has linked the group fund account to an executor account,alert interface 106 may transmit one or more requests to executor device102 to prompt the executor for contact information for one or morepotential group members. The executor may provide, via executor device102, for example, the contact information for one or more group members,such as the user of group member device 109. The executor may provide,via executor device 102, for example, a social media username for thepotential group member if the group member has a social media accountwith social networking site 107. The executor may provide an emailaddress or phone number associated with the one or more group members.Alert interface 106 may then generate one or more group memberinvitations and send them to the group members based on the contactinformation. The invitation may be sent to the group member's socialmedia account via social API 110 on a messaging platform specific tosocial networking site 107. The invitation could be a text, SMS, MMS,push notification or email sent directly to group member device 109. Theinvitation could be an in-app alert, for example, if the group memberhas a mobile banking application with financial institution 101. Invarious embodiments, various security features enabled by the mobilebanking application may be used to authenticate one or more groupmembers. For example, push notification authentication techniques asshown in described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/827,608entitled “System and Method For Digital Authentication,” filed on Aug.17, 2015 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/827,671, entitled“System and Method For Digital Authentication,” filed on Aug. 17, 2015,both of which claim priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/037,710, filed on Aug. 15, 2014, the entire contents of each of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, may be used toauthenticate group members.

The invitation may include the name of the executor, information aboutthe group fund account, information about any of the limits associatedwith the group fund account, a personal message from the executor, and arequest for the group member to link one of his financial accounts tothe group fund account. The invitation may include an initial fundingamount, specifying an amount of funds that will be transferred from thegroup member's account to the group fund account if the group memberaccepts the invitation. Each invitation may include a different initialfunding amount, or they may all include the same initial funding amount.The executor may select the initial funding amount for each invitationusing group fund app 103.

The group member may view the invitation on his device, such as groupmember device 109. The invitation may be received as a text message,SMS, MMS, email, push notification social networking message, orapplication specific message. The invitation may be received on thegroup member's social media account on social networking site 107 viasocial linking API 110. Social linking API 110 may allow certain data tobe transmitted through the social linking API 110 so that socialnetworking site 107 may communicate with group fund processor 104,account system 105, alert interface 106 and/or financial institution101. Social linking API 110 may prevent data other than approved data tobe transmitted through the social linking API. For example, the sociallinking API 110 may only support user name, user e-mail address, useridentification information, and/or user location information to betransmitted from the social networking site 107 to group fund processor104, account system 105, alert interface 106 and/or financialinstitution 101. In various embodiments, social API 110 may be part ofgroup fund processor 104, account system 105, alert interface 106 and/orfinancial institution 101.

The group member may respond affirmatively to the invitation using, forexample, group member device 109. The group member also may deny theinvitation. The group member may respond affirmatively but provide adifferent initial funding amount from the one requested by the executor.The invitation may include one or more interactive features that requestthe group member provide an account number and/or routing numberassociated with a financial account that he will use as a group memberaccount. The group member may have an account with financial institution101. The account may be with financial institution 112, or another thirdparty entity. Account system 105 may receive the account informationassociated with the group member's account if the group member respondsaffirmatively. The group member may provide, using, for example groupmember device 109, a username and password associated with his account.The group member may provide a PIN number associated with his account.Account system 105 may receive this information and use it to link thegroup member's account to the group fund account. The group member maylink multiple accounts to the group fund account. This link may use oneor more transaction networks, such as a Peer-to-Peer network (P2P) or anACH network (e.g., if the group member has an account with financialinstitution 112). The link may be internal within financial institution101 (if the group fund account and the group member account are bothprovided by financial institution 101). Once the group member's accountis linked to the group fund account, the group member's account maysupply funds to the group fund account. FIG. 3 shows group memberaccounts 330 a, 330 b, and 330 c being linked to group fund account 320.In this embodiment, the group member accounts 330 a, 330 b, and 330 cmay be linked via network 308, which may be a transaction network. Oneor more of group member accounts 330 a, 330 b, and 330 c also may beprovided by the same financial institution as group fund account 320,and may be internally linked.

Once the accounts are linked, if the executor included an initialfunding amount in each invitation, the group fund account will becredited that amount from each group member account, and each groupmember account will be debited the initial funding amount. The groupfund account may not have a card associated with it, and group fundprocessor 104 may block the group fund account from being used directlyin any transaction (e.g., group fund processor 104 may block group fundaccount from being used to pay a merchant for goods or services.

When a group member agrees to the invitation, group fund processor 104may prompt the group member to post information about their contributionto their social media account with social networking site 107. Thesocial media post, for example, may include the funding amount, thepurpose of the group fund account, any name the executor has associatedwith the group fund account, and the date and time. Similarly, when theexecutor first creates the group fund account, group fund processor 104may prompt the executor to “post” this information to his social mediaaccount at social networking site 107. Executor and/or the group membersmay link their information to their social media accounts with socialnetworking site. This linking, for example, may be accomplished usinggroup fund processor 104 and/or social API 110. When a group memberresponds affirmatively to the initial invitation, the invitation mayinclude an option allowing the group member to link his activity to hissocial media account with social networking site 107.

Once a group member has linked his account with the group fund account,the user may receive a username and password to access read-onlyinformation for the group fund account. The user may, for example, enterthis at a web portal and/or in an application on his device (e.g.,device 109), such as group fund app 103. When the user enters theusername and password, the user may view a record of all transactionsthat have been funded by the group fund account, the names of all thegroup members, the name of the executor, the current balance in thegroup fund account, the amount he has contributed, the amountscontributed by others, and/or any limits associated with the group fundaccount.

The executor may then make one or more purchases using the executoraccount (or one or more of the executor accounts if the executorinitially linked multiple accounts to the group fund account). Thisprocess will be described in connection with FIG. 3 . The executor maymake a purchase at merchant 305 using executor account 310 (which hasbeen previously linked with group fund account 320). The purchase may bemade using a card swipe using a card from executor account 310. Thepurchase may be an online purchase. The purchase may be in the form of amobile payment using device 102. The purchase may be some other form ofP2P payment.

Merchant 305 may charge executor account 310 for the transaction. Groupfund processor 104 may receive the transaction data for the transactionfrom merchant 305, financial institution 101, and/or a third partypayment processor. The transaction data may include the transactionamount, the transaction location, the date and time, the account numberfor executor account 310, the transaction category, and one or moremerchant identifiers.

Group fund system 104 may analyze the transaction data and compare it tothe one or more group fund limits associated with the group fund account320 to determine if the transaction charge is part of the groupactivity. If the charge is related to the group activity, account system105 may transfer the funds for the transaction amount from the groupcard account 320 into the executor account 310. For example, assume thegroup fund account has been limited to transactions between Jul. 2-Jul.5, 2014. The spend limit on the account is $500 total over that daterange. The location limit is Martha's Vineyard. If the executor usesexecutor account 310 to make a purchase on July 3 for $100 of fireworksat a store in Martha's Vineyard, group fund account module 104 mayapprove the transaction because it meets the limits (assuming theremaining balance on the group fund account will be greater than $100following the time of the transaction), and account system 105 maytransfer $100 from group fund account 320 to executor account 310. Theexecutor account 310 may be used to pay the merchant for thetransaction, while the group fund account 320 may be used to reimbursethe executor account 310 if the one or more group fund limits aresatisfied. The executor account 310 may pay the merchant for thetransaction regardless of whether the group fund limits are satisfied,as these are only used to determine whether the group fund account 320reimburses the executor account 310.

In various embodiments, group fund processor 104 may automaticallyapprove a transaction on executor account 310 to be funded by group fundaccount 320 if that transaction meets the limits set by the executor. Invarious embodiments, alert interface 106 may transmit an alert toexecutor device 102 in response to receiving the transaction data andrequest authorization of the transaction from the executor. Alertinterface 106 may transmit the alert only if the transaction meets allthe limits. Alert interface 106 may transmit the alert if thetransaction fails to meet one or more limits. If the executor respondsto the alert, using, for example, executor device 102, by authorizingthe transaction, account system 105 may transfer the funds from groupfund account 320 to executor account 310.

In various embodiments, if the amount of funds in group fund account 320drops below a certain level, alert interface 106 may generate a lowbalance alert to be transmitted to executor device 102. The level mayhave been set by the executor when he created the group fund account.The level may be preprogrammed into group fund processor 104. The lowbalance alert may include an option allowing the executor to send anupdated funding request to one or more group members, similar to theinitial invitation. The updated funding request may include a fundingamount (similar to the initial funding amount). When the members of thegroup receive the updated funding request, they would be able to click abutton (or select some other interactive feature) to approve the fundingrequest for the amount the executor has asked for, or deny the request.In various embodiments, the group member could enter a different fundingamount instead of the amount requested by the executor. Account system105 may receive the group members' responses to the updated fundingrequest and may withdraw/transfer/charge/debit the approved funds fromthe group members' linked accounts (e.g., accounts 330 a, 330 b, and/or330 c) and deposit/credit those funds into the group fund account 320.

When the group fund account 320 is used to fund a transaction onexecutor account 310, each group member may receive an alert on hisdevice and/or to his social media page. The alert may include thetransaction information. The alert may inform the group member that thetransaction was approved by the executor to be funded by group fundaccount 320. The alert may include the remaining balance on the groupfund account 320.

In various embodiments, group fund app 103 may be integrated into socialnetworking site 107. The executor may access the same services andperform the same actions using his social media account on socialnetworking site 107.

Once a charge has been made and confirmed by the executor and/or groupfund processor 104, group fund processor 104 may present the executorwith the option of posting the transaction information to his socialmedia account with social networking site 107. The post may include adescription of the event, a personal message from the executor (e.g.,“just bought dinner at the Bellagio!”). Other group members may havethis option as well. Group fund system 104 may allow the executor and/orgroup members to attach one or more photos and/or videos to the post.

Group fund system 104 may automatically close the group fund accountonce the date limit is reached for the account (if a date limit was setby the executor). The executor may close the account in response to analert from alert interface 106 that the date limit has been reached.Account system 105 may distribute any remaining funds in group fundaccount to the group members equally, or in proportion to the amountseach group member has contributed. Account system 105 may delete allaccount information associated with the group member accounts and theexecutor account so that the accounts are no longer linked to the groupfund account.

FIG. 2 depicts an example system 200 for providing a temporary groupcard fund to pay for purchases that satisfy certain parameters. As shownin FIG. 2 , system 200 may include a client device 202, a network 204, afront-end controlled domain 206, a back-end controlled domain 212, and abackend 218. Front-end controlled domain 206 may include one or moreload balancers 208 and one or more web servers 210. Back-end controlleddomain 212 may include one or more load balancers 214 and one or moreapplication servers 216.

Client device 202 may be a network-enabled computer. Client device 202may be similar to executor device 102 and/or group member device 102.Client device 202 may be configured to execute one or more applications.As referred to herein, a network-enabled computer may include, but isnot limited to: e.g., any computer device, or communications deviceincluding, e.g., a server, a network appliance, a personal computer(PC), a workstation, a mobile device, a phone, a handheld PC, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a thin client, a fat client, an Internetbrowser, or other device. The one or more network-enabled computers ofthe example system 200 may execute one or more software applications toenable, for example, network communications.

Client device 202 also may be a mobile device. For example, a mobiledevice may include an iPhone, iPod, iPad from Apple® or any other mobiledevice running Apple's iOS operating system, any device running Google'sAndroid® operating system, including for example, Google's wearabledevice, Google Glass, any device running Microsoft's Windows® Mobileoperating system, and/or any other smartphone or like wearable mobiledevice.

Network 204 may be one or more of a wireless network, a wired network,or any combination of a wireless network and a wired network. Forexample, network 204 may include one or more of a fiber optics network,a passive optical network, a cable network, an Internet network, asatellite network, a wireless LAN, a Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), a Personal Communication Service (PCS), a PersonalArea Networks, (PAN), D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, Fixed Wireless Data, IEEE 802.11b,802.15.1, 802.11n, and 802.11g or any other wired or wireless networkfor transmitting and receiving a data signal.

In addition, network 204 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN) or a global network such as the Internet. Also,network 204 may support an Internet network, a wireless communicationnetwork, a cellular network, or the like, or any combination thereof.Network 204 may further include one network, or any number of exampletypes of networks mentioned above, operating as a stand-alone network orin cooperation with each other. Network 204 may utilize one or moreprotocols of one or more network elements to which they arecommunicatively couples. Network 204 may translate to or from otherprotocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Although network204 is depicted as a single network, it should be appreciated thataccording to one or more embodiments, network 204 may comprise aplurality of interconnected networks, such as, for example, theInternet, a service provider's network, a cable television network,corporate networks, and home networks.

Front-end controlled domain 206 may be implemented to provide securityfor backend 218. Load balancer(s) 208 may distribute workloads acrossmultiple computing resources, such as, for example computers, a computercluster, network links, central processing units or disk drives. Invarious embodiments, load balancer(s) 208 may distribute workloadsacross, for example, web server(S) 210 and/or backend 218 systems. Loadbalancing aims to optimize resource use, maximize throughput, minimizeresponse time, and avoid overload of any one of the resources. Usingmultiple components with load balancing instead of a single componentmay increase reliability through redundancy. Load balancing is usuallyprovided by dedicated software or hardware, such as a multilayer switchor a Domain Name System (DNS) server process.

Load balancer(s) 208 and 214 may include software that monitoring theport where external clients, such as, for example, client device 202,connect to access various services of a financial institution or thirdparty (such as system 100 shown in FIG. 1 ), for example. Loadbalancer(s) 208 may forward requests to one of the application servers216 and/or backend 218 servers, which may then reply to load balancer208. This may allow load balancer(s) 208 to reply to client device 202without client device 202 ever knowing about the internal separation offunctions. It also may prevent client devices from contacting backendservers directly, which may have security benefits by hiding thestructure of the internal network and preventing attacks on backend 218or unrelated services running on other ports, for example.

A variety of scheduling algorithms may be used by load balancer(s) 208to determine which backend server to send a request to. Simplealgorithms may include, for example, random choice or round robin. Loadbalancers 208 also may account for additional factors, such as aserver's reported load, recent response times, up/down status(determined by a monitoring poll of some kind), number of activeconnections, geographic location, capabilities, or how much traffic ithas recently been assigned.

Load balancers 208 may be implemented in hardware and/or software. Loadbalancer(s) 208 may implement numerous features, including, withoutlimitation: asymmetric loading; Priority activation: SSL Offload andAcceleration; Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack protection;HTTP compression; TCP offloading; TCP buffering; direct server return;health checking; HTTP caching; content filtering; HTTP security;priority queuing; rate shaping; content-aware switching; clientauthentication; programmatic traffic manipulation; firewall; intrusionprevention systems.

Web server(s) 210 may include hardware (e.g., one or more computers)and/or software (e.g., one or more applications) that deliver webcontent that can be accessed by, for example a client device (e.g.,client device 202) through a network (e.g., network 204), such as theInternet. In various examples, web servers, may deliver web pages,relating to, for example, online banking applications and the like, toclients (e.g., client device 202). Web server(s) 210 may use, forexample, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP or sHTTP) to communicatewith client device 202. The web pages delivered to client device mayinclude, for example, HTML documents, which may include images, stylesheets and scripts in addition to text content.

A user agent, such as, for example, a web browser, web crawler, ornative mobile application, may initiate communication by making arequest for a specific resource using HTTP and web server 210 mayrespond with the content of that resource or an error message if unableto do so. The resource may be, for example a file on stored on backend218. Web server(s) 210 also may enable or facilitate receiving contentfrom client device 202 so client device 202 may be able to, for example,submit web forms, including uploading of files.

Web server(s) also may support server-side scripting using, for example,Active Server Pages (ASP), PHP, or other scripting languages.Accordingly, the behavior of web server(s) 210 can be scripted inseparate files, while the actual server software remains unchanged.

Load balancers 214 may be similar to load balancers 208 as describedabove.

Application server(s) 216 may include hardware and/or software that isdedicated to the efficient execution of procedures (e.g., programs,routines, scripts) for supporting its applied applications. Applicationserver(s) 216 may comprise one or more application server frameworks,including, for example, Java application servers (e.g., Java platform,Enterprise Edition (Java EE), the .NET framework from Microsoft®, PHPapplication servers, and the like). The various application serverframeworks may contain a comprehensive service layer model. Also,application server(s) 216 may act as a set of components accessible to,for example, a financial institution or other entity implementing system200 and/or system 100, through an API defined by the platform itself.For Web applications, these components may be performed in, for example,the same running environment as web server(s) 210, and applicationservers 216 may support the construction of dynamic pages. Applicationserver(s) 216 also may implement services, such as, for example,clustering, fail-over, and load-balancing. In various embodiments, whereapplication server(s) 216 are Java application servers, the webserver(s) 210 may behaves like an extended virtual machine for runningapplications, transparently handling connections to databases associatedwith backend 218 on one side, and, connections to the Web client (e.g.,client device 202) on the other.

Backend 218 may include hardware and/or software that enables thebackend services of, for example, a financial institution or otherentity that maintains and distributes a system similar to system 200and/or system 100. For example, backend 218 may include, a system ofrecord, online banking applications, a rewards platform, a paymentsplatform, a lending platform, including the various services associatedwith, for example, auto and home lending platforms, a statementprocessing platform, one or more platforms that provide mobile services,one or more platforms that provide online services, a card provisioningplatform, a general ledger system, a group fund system (e.g., system 100shown in FIG. 1 ) and the like. Backend 218 may be associated withvarious databases, including account databases that maintain, forexample, customer account information, product databases that maintaininformation about products and services available to customers, contentdatabases that store content associated with, for example, a financialinstitution, and the like. Backend 218 also may be associated with oneor more servers that enable the various services provided by system 200.Backend 218 may be associated with one or more servers that enable thevarious services provided by system 100.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for creating a group fundaccount for one or more group members. The method 400 shown in FIG. 4can be executed or otherwise performed by one or more combinations ofvarious systems. The method 400 as described below may be carried out bythe system for providing a group fund account to one or more groupmembers, as shown in FIGS. 1-3 , by way of example, and various elementsof that system are referenced in explaining the method of FIG. 4 . Eachblock shown in FIG. 4 represents one or more processes, methods, orsubroutines in the example method 400. Referring to FIG. 4 , the examplemethod 400 may begin at block 401.

At block 401, primary account data may be received. The primary accountdata may be received at a financial institution from a user deviceassociated with a user who will control the group fund account as theexecutor. In various embodiments, a social linking API may be used intransmitting the primary account data from a user device to a financialinstitution. The primary account data may include, for example, anaccount number, a routing number, and a username and password for theprimary account. In this example, the primary account may be a checkingaccount held by user A. In various embodiments, the executor may provideaccount data for multiple primary accounts.

At block 402, a group fund account may be created. The group fundaccount may be created and maintained by a financial institution. Thegroup fund account may be created in connection with a social linkingAPI for example. The group fund account may be a “pay to” account thatwill be linked to the primary account. The group fund account may havean account number, but may be restricted so that it cannot be used topay for any goods or services directly.

At block 403, the group fund account may be linked to a primary account.For example, a financial institution may link a group fund account to aprimary account of an executor. Once the accounts are linked, the groupfund account may be used to fund certain transactions conducted usingthe primary account. In various embodiments, the group fund account maybe linked to multiple primary accounts (if, for example, the executorprovided account information for multiple primary accounts).

At block 404, one or more limits may be associated with the group fundaccount. User A may set the limits for the group fund account. User Amay create a name for the group fund account. In this example, the groupfund account will be used to fund expenses on a group ski trip toColorado. User A may set a total spend limit for the group fund accountat $1,000. User A may set a date limit of Dec. 5-Dec. 8, 2014. User Amay set a location limit of the zip code where the ski resort islocated. User A may limit the group fund account to be used forin-person, credit transactions. The limits may be associated with thegroup fund account. In various embodiments where the executor has linkedmultiple primary accounts to the group fund account, the limits on thegroup fund account may vary depending on the primary account.

At block 405, invitations may be transmitted to potential group members.A financial institution may use, for example, an alert interface totransmit the notification to the users. The potential group members maybe selected by user A. The invitations may be sent as text messages,SMS, MMS, push notification, email, or through one or more socialnetworking platforms. The invitation may include the name of the groupfund account, a description of the purpose, a description of the one ormore limits associated with the account, and an initial funding amount.The initial funding amount may be set by user A. In this example, theinvitation is sent to four individuals—user B, user C, user D, and userE. Each invitation includes an initial funding amount of $250. Theinvitation may include one or more interactive features allowing therecipient to accept the invitation, decline it, or accept it, but with adifferent initial funding amount using, for example, a group memberdevice. The interactive features also request account information fromeach group member.

At block 406, the responses to the invitations may be received. In thisexample, user B, user C, user D, and user E all accept the invitation.Each response may include account information for an account held by theresponding user. The account information may include an account name, anaccount number, a routing number, a username and password associatedwith the account, the name of the bank, etc.

At block 407, each group member account may be linked to the group fundaccount using the account information. Continuing with the previousexample, user B's account is linked to the group fund account. User B'saccount is provided by the same financial institution as the group fundaccount, and $250 is automatically transferred from user B's account tothe group fund account once the accounts are linked. User C's accountmay be provided by a different financial institution. User C's accountmay be linked over a transaction network, and $250 may be debited fromuser C's account and credited to the group fund account. User D's anduser E's accounts may be similarly linked to the group fund account.Continuing with the previous example, once all four accounts are linkedto the group fund account, the balance on the group fund account will be$1,000.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for funding a transactionusing a group fund account. The method 500 shown in FIG. 5 can beexecuted or otherwise performed by one or more combinations of varioussystems. The method 500 as described below may be carried out by thesystem for providing a group fund account to one or more group members,as shown in FIGS. 1-3 , by way of example, and various elements of thatsystem are referenced in explaining the method of FIG. 5 . Each blockshown in FIG. 5 represents one or more processes, methods, orsubroutines in the example method 500. Referring to FIG. 5 , the examplemethod 500 may begin at block 501.

At block 501, transaction data may be received at, for example, afinancial institution via one or more financialtransaction/authorization networks. Continuing with the previousexample, the transaction data may be related to a purchase made by userA using a credit card associated with the primary account. The purchasemay be made at the ski resort in Colorado. The purchase may be for $200in lift tickets. The purchase may be made on December 6. The transactiondata may include the purchase amount ($200), the date and time, thelocation of the purchase, a merchant identifier, the transaction type,the credit card number, and other data associated with the purchaseand/or user A.

At block 502, the transaction data may be compared with the one or morelimits associated with the group fund account using, for example, agroup fund processor. Continuing with the previous example, the limitsinclude a location limit (the zip code in Colorado where the ski resortis located), a date limit (transactions between December 5 and December8), a transaction type limit (in-person credit card transactions), and atotal spend limit (no more than $1,000 total during the life of thegroup fund account). At block 503, if the transaction data satisfies allof the limits, method 500 may proceed to block 504. If the transactiondata fails to satisfy the limits, method 500 may proceed to block 505where it ends. For example, if the $200 purchase was made at a gasstation in Kansas, this would fail to satisfy the location limit, andthe method would end, meaning the transaction would not be funded by thegroup account (i.e., the primary account would not be reimbursed for thecost of the purchase by the group fund account). In this example, thetransaction data satisfies the limits placed on the account, and method500 proceeds to block 504.

At block 504, a confirmation request may be transmitted to the executorvia a network using, for example, an alert interface. For example, analert interface may use a push notification to transmit the request tothe executor. In so doing, push notification authentication may be usedto authenticate the executor to the financial institution, for example.In various embodiments, block 504 may be omitted from the method. Inother embodiments, block 504 may be placed before block 505 and afterblock 503. In this example, user A may receive a confirmation request.The confirmation request may be a text message, SMS, MMS, email, and/ora message sent on a social networking platform to user A's social mediaaccount(s). The confirmation request may include the transaction dataand request that user A approve or deny the transaction. In variousembodiments, user A may approve the transaction, but select a differentreimbursement amount (instead of the transaction amount, the primaryaccount would then be reimbursed from the group fund account based onuser A's selection).

At block 506, if confirmation of the transaction from user A is receivedby the financial institution, method 500 may proceed to block 507. Ifthe user does not confirm the transaction, method 500 may proceed toblock 505 and end.

At block 507, the appropriate funds from the group fund account may betransferred to the primary account using, for example, the group fundprocessor. The transferred funds may be for the transaction amount. Thetransferred funds may be for a different amount (based on user A'sselection). In this example, method 500 may transfer $200 from the groupfund account to user A's primary account (the checking account). Thetransfer may be an internal bank transfer. The transfer may be conductedover a transaction network. The balance on the group fund account may beupdated after the $200 is transferred out.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with references to the accompanying drawings. It will,however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be madethereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the invention as set forth in theclaims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to beregarded as an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: one or more processors; anda memory in communication with the one or more processors and storinginstructions, that when executed by the one or more processors areconfigured to cause the system to: receive account data associated witha primary account from a first device operating a first mobileapplication that is configured to enable creation of a group fundaccount having one or more limits associated with the group fundaccount; transmit an electronic invitation indicative of a first amountrequest to a second device; receive a response from the second devicecomprising account data associated with a group member accountassociated with the second device; link the group fund account to theprimary account so that the group fund account funds the primaryaccount; link the group member account associated with the second deviceto the group fund account; and transfer a first amount from the groupmember account of the second device to the group fund account.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the memory stores further instructions, thatwhen executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause thesystem to: receive transaction data associated with a purchase madeusing the primary account via a transaction processing network; comparethe transaction data to one or more limits associated with the groupfund account; block the group fund account from being used to directlyfund a transaction; transmit a confirmation request to the first devicebased on a result of the comparison; receive a response to theconfirmation request from the first device; and transfer a specifiedamount from the group fund account to the primary account based on atleast one of the transaction data and the response to the confirmationrequest.
 3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a social linkingapplication programming interface configured to interface with the oneor more processors and wherein the first mobile application isassociated with a social networking platform.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the first mobile application of the first device and a secondmobile application of the second device are associated with at least onefinancial service provider.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one ormore processors are integrated into the at least one financial serviceprovider.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic invitation istransmitted to the second device using one or more of a short messageservice and a push notification.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thesecond device comprises a second mobile application.
 8. A systemcomprising: one or more processors; and a memory in communication withthe one or more processors and storing instructions, that when executedby the one or more processors are configured to cause the system to:receive account data associated with a primary account from a firstdevice operating a first mobile application that is configured tointeract with a group fund account having one or more limits associatedwith the group fund account; receive transaction data associated with apurchase request made using the primary account; receive, from thesecond device, account data associated with a group member accountassociated with the second device; link the group fund account to theprimary account; link the group member account to the group fundaccount; and authorize a transaction associated with the transactiondata in response to the transaction complying with the one or morelimits associated with the group fund account.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein the memory stores further instructions, that when executed bythe one or more processors are configured to cause the system to:transmit a confirmation request to the first device based on the resultsof the comparison; receive a response to the confirmation request fromthe first device; and transfer a specified amount from the group fundaccount to the primary account based on at least one of the transactiondata and the response to the confirmation request, wherein the one ormore limits associated with the group fund account comprise one or morelimits selected from a merchant identifier limit, a transaction typelimit, a spend limit, a transaction location limit, a transaction dateand time limit, and combinations thereof.
 10. The system of claim 8,further comprising a social linking application programming interfaceconfigured to interface with the one or more processors.
 11. The systemof claim 8, wherein the first mobile application of the first device anda second mobile applications of the second device are associated with atleast one financial service provider.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the one or more processors are integrated into the at least onefinancial service provider.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein themessage is provided to the second device using one or more of a shortmessage service and a push notification.
 14. The system of claim 8,wherein the second device comprises a second mobile application.
 15. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the group fund account is associated with afirst social networking platform.
 16. The system of claim 8, wherein thememory includes further instructions, that when executed by the one ormore processors are configured to cause the system to: link the groupfund account to the primary account so that the group fund account fundsthe primary account; and link the group member account associated withthe second device to the group fund account so that the first amount istransferred from the group member account of the second device to thegroup fund account.
 17. A method comprising: receiving, by one or moregroup fund processors, (i) account data associated with a primaryaccount from a first device and (ii) one or more limits associated witha group fund account that is accessible via a first mobile applicationon the first device; receiving, by one or more account processors,account data associated with a group member account of an invited userassociated with a second device; and linking, by the one or more accountprocessors, (i) the group fund account to the primary account so thatthe group fund account funds the primary account and (ii) the groupmember account of the invited user to the group fund account so that afirst amount is transferred from the group member account of the inviteduser to the group fund account.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein thefirst mobile application is configured to enable the second device tointeract with the group fund processor as a group member.
 19. The methodof claim 17 further comprising: receiving, by one or more group fundprocessors, a recurring time limit associated with the group fundaccount; transmitting, by the one or more group fund processors, a queryto the first device; and receiving, by the one or more group fundprocessors, input from the first device indicating whether the groupfund account should close at a time associated with the recurring timelimit.
 20. The method of claim 17 further comprising: transmitting, byan alert interface, an electronic invitation comprising a first amountrequest to the second device of the invited user; and receiving, by thealert interface, a response to the electronic invitation from the seconddevice, wherein the response comprises the account data associated withthe group member account of the invited user.